Each record in the library catalog contains specific information about a work,
such as the title, author, and subject. You can search these record fields
for keywords. A keyword search in any field looks in all the search fields
of the library catalog to find your keyword text. Other keyword searches
narrow the search for the keyword only in the author, subject, title,
or other specific fields.

Typing Search Text - Keyword Searches

• Case, spaces, punctuation
- Letter case, multiple spaces, and punctuation are ignored. Omit hyphens
in numbers. However, you can include the following characters if they
immediately precede or follow a letter or number (no space between):
+ # % $

• Multiple words
- If you type more than one word, your results may include
materials with the words in any order. If you want to find the words
in the exact order, begin the phrase with double quotation marks.

• Wildcard characters
- You can type a part of a word and use a wildcard character. The wildcard character asterisk (*) represents the rest of the word. For
example, if you type King*, the results
include words such as King, Kingsley, and Kingford.
The question mark (?) represents exactly one character.
For example, wom?n finds woman and women.
If the question mark occurs at the end of a word, it does not act as
a wildcard character, so you can find titles like what
color is your parachute? Also, if you type a backslash character
\ before any wildcard character, the
wildcard character is treated as text.

You may see suggested search terms as you type.
You can ignore the suggestions and continue to type your search term,
or click a suggestion to search for the suggested term. Click Hide Suggestions if you do not want to see
search suggestions. Click the small arrow in the search text box to show
the suggestions after they have been hidden.

3. Click the Search by arrow
symbol, and select a search field from the list:

• Any Field
- All the indexed information fields

• Title - Title
fields

• Author -
Author fields

• Subject -
Subject fields

• General notes
- Notes fields

• Publisher
- Publisher field

• Genre - Forms
or types of materials, such as science fiction, romance, biography, bibliography,
or large type books

• Series -
Series fields

•ISBN - International Standard
Book Number, a 13-digit number that is assigned to a specific
book or edition of a book when it is published. Type the wildcard character
* at the beginning and end of the number
you enter for best results.

•ISSN - International Standard
Serial Number, an 8-digit number with an optional letter
code that identifies a serial title. Type the wildcard character * at the beginning and end of the number
you enter for best results.

•LCCN - Library of Congress Control
Number. Type the wildcard character *
at the beginning and end of the number you enter for best results.

•SuDoc - Superintendent of Documents
classification number (identifier) assigned to government documents.
The identifier can consist of letters and numbers.

•CODEN - Identifier for scientific
and technical periodical titles. The six-character identifier can consist
of letters and numbers.

•STRN - Standard technical report
number (identifier) assigned according to ISO 10444 or NISO Z39.23 standards.
The identifier can consist of letters and numbers.

4. To limit your search, click the arrow symbol in the Limit by box, and select an option from the
list. Example: If you want to find only DVDs, select DVD
in the Limit by list.

Note:Your library may provide a digital collection that you can search and access
online in the same way that you search for other materials. Materials
in the collection may include images, video clips, sound files, and text
files. If you want to restrict your search results to digital collection
materials, select Digital Collection
in the Limit by box.

5. If you want
to set additional limits, follow these steps:

a) Click More Search Options.

b) Select the
settings you want. To select several consecutive items in a list, hold
down the SHIFT key as you select the
items. To select several items that are not listed together, hold down
the CTRL key as you select the items.

You can also exclude items from a search. Select
them from the appropriate list, and click the Exclude
box below the list.

Note:Detailed material types are defined by the library for the
physical items the library owns. The formats in the Limit
by box on the search bar refer to general formats and types
of materials associated with title entries in the catalog. You can limit
a search by format or detailed material type, but not both. If you selected
a format in the Limit by box when you
set up your search, your format choice is canceled when you set a material
type.

c) Click Set Search Options, and click Close to close the options window.

The search bar displays a highlighted message that
options have been set. To change them, click the Change
link in the highlighted Options have been set
message, set new values and click Set Search Options.
Then do a new search.

To reset the search options to their original values,
click the Reset link in the highlighted
Options have been set message. The
search is done again, using the original values.

Important: Search options retain their settings until you reset them
or go to the home page. The highlighted message Options
have been set on the search bar indicates that search options
are set to values different from the usual values.

6. To search a
database other than the library’s catalog, or select multiple databases
to search: